Humanverse

Arely vs Aretta

American parents have registered 11,216 Arelys since 1880, against 1,142 Arettas. Arely is still ahead, with 257 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Arely against Aretta, 1880 to 2025 0 150 300 450 600 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Arely Aretta

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 121 years in which either name was published, Aretta for 68 years and Arely for 53 years. The lead changed hands 3 times.

Side by side

  Arely Aretta
Total US births 11,2161,142
Most in one year 55233
Babies in 2025 257under 5
Estimated living today 11,000370
Median age today 1671
Peak year 20071923
Best rank 554th girls1,388th girls
Rank in 2025 983rdunranked
First recorded 19721900
Girls / boys 11,216 / 01,142 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Arettas alive today are over 71; half the Arelys are over 16. That is 55 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Arely and Aretta.